Objective  To analyze the effectiveness of network communication and information dissemination through publication of trade journals for agricultural communities.

  Methods  The statistics relating to network communication of the Fujian Journal of Agricultural Sciences (FJAS) using the Open Access (OA) and the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) platforms were compiled. Data with respect to the annual downloads and browses, user geography and affiliation distributions in 2012—2017, as well as the total downloads, downloads per article, and distributions of download frequency on papers published from 2008 to 2017 were used for the analysis.

  Results  (1) During 2012—2017, the number of downloads of articles published in FJAS through the OA platform was 1,640,600 and that of browses 3,252,200. Comparing to CNKI, they were 6.44 times higher on the downloads and 12.03 times on the browses. The visitations on FJAS through both platforms in that period were continually rising in numbers. (2) From 2008 to 2017, the total downloads on FJAS published material through the OA platform reached 1,042,900 averaging 503 per paper, which were significantly higher than those of CNKI (i.e., 30,250 downloads averaging 146 per paper). (3) In those years, the majority of FJAS online users on OA were from China (887,800 downloads) and the United States (64,0700 downloads). All foreign users made 46.83% of the total browse. Meanwhile, on the CNKI platform, most FJAS logons came from China, with 286,000 downloads accounting for 99.13% of the total. (4) In China, the FJAS domestic users who used OA were mainly from Beijing and Shanghai; whereas those applied the CNKI platform were largely from the economically well-developed localities and science-and-technology-oriented higher education and research institutions.

  Conclusion  The OA platform was the main venue for network communication accessed by readers in search for information provided by academic periodicals. It significantly contributed to the international communication and information exchange. The CNKI platform, on the other hand, tended to be the choice by domestic scientific information seekers. The two platforms complemented each other by serving different audiences. Consequently, further improving the OA platform and, at the same time, enhancing the joint efforts with CNKI would highly benefit the agriculture and scientific communities in fostering the communication, extending the reach, and assisting the information dissemination.